Former Wimbledon champion and world number one Simona Halep has been banned for four years for two doping offences.
The Romanian, who triumphed at the All England Club in 2019, had been provisionally suspended since last October having tested positive for the blood-boosting drug roxadustat at the 2022 US Open.
She was subsequently charged with irregularities in her Athlete Biological Passport (ABP) and both charges have been upheld following an independent tribunal.
Halep, who has taken to social media several times over the past year to voice unhappiness at the time the process was taking, gave evidence at the tribunal in London on June 28 and 29.
She argued roxadustat had got into her system via a contaminated supplement but, while the tribunal accepted she had taken such a substance, it “determined the volume the player ingested could not have resulted in the concentration of roxadustat found in the positive sample”.
The Athlete Biological Passport programme collates various blood parameters over time in an effort to spot any inconsistencies in the data that could indicate a possible doping offence.
The charge was also upheld, with the tribunal deciding “they had no reason to doubt the unanimous ‘strong opinion’ reached by each of the three independent Athlete Passport Management Unit experts that ‘likely doping’ was the explanation for the irregularities in Halep’s profile.”
The 31-year-old, who also won the French Open in 2018 and is the highest-profile tennis player to fail a doping test since Maria Sharapova in 2016, quickly issued a statement confirming she would appeal.
“Today, a tribunal under the Tennis Anti-Doping Programme announced a tentative decision in my case,” said Halep.
“The last year has been the hardest match of my life and unfortunately my fight continues. I have devoted my life to the beautiful game of tennis.
“I take the rules that govern our sport very seriously and take pride in the fact I have never knowingly or intentionally used any prohibited substance. I refused to accept their decision of a four-year ban.
“While I am grateful to finally have an outcome following numerous unfounded delays and a feeling of living in purgatory for over a year, I am both shocked and disappointed by their decision.
“I intend to appeal this decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and pursue all legal remedies against the supplement company in question.”
Halep again criticised the International Tennis Integrity Agency, which oversees the sport’s anti-doping programme, saying: “The ITIA brought an ABP charge only after its expert group learned my identity, causing two out of three to suddenly change their opinion in favour of ITIA’s allegations.
“The ITIA relied solely on the opinions of these experts who looked only at my blood parameters – which I’ve maintained for more than 10 years in the same range.
“This group ignored the fact no prohibited substance has ever been found in my blood or urine samples with the sole exception of one August 29 positive test for roxadustat, which was present at an extremely low level and which, when considering my negative test three days prior, could only have been caused by accidental exposure to roxadustat.
“I am continuing to train and do everything in my power to clear my name of these false allegations and return to the court.”
If her appeal is unsuccessful, Halep will not be eligible to compete again until October 7, 2026, when she will be 35.
Karen Moorhouse, CEO of the ITIA, defended the handling of the case, saying: “After a complex and rigorous hearing process, we welcome the independent tribunal’s decision.
“The volume of evidence for the tribunal to consider in both the roxadustat and ABP proceedings was substantial.
“The ITIA has followed the proper processes as we would with any other individual – in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code – fulfilling our purpose and responsibility to uphold the principle of fair competition, on behalf of the sport.
“The panel recognised that appropriate procedure had been followed within the written decision.”
Wimbledon: Raducanu stunned by qualifier Sun after injury scare in round-of-16 exit
Emma Raducanu was stunned in the Wimbledon round of 16 as qualifier Lulu Sun claimed a remarkable victory to eliminate the Centre Court favourite on Sunday.
Raducanu needed a lengthy medical stoppage after extending too far and injuring her left knee in the opening game of the deciding set, but was unable to recover as Sun emerged a 6-2 5-7 6-2 victor.
Featuring in the fourth round of a major for the first time since her breakout 2021 season, Raducanu seemed caught up by the occasion as qualifier Sun raced into a 3-0 lead by breaking twice.
Raducanu fought back to break and reduce the deficit to 3-1, though again faltered on her serve as the world number 123 snatched the third break-point opportunity to move 5-2 up and then sealed the first set.
The 2021 US Open champion regained her composure in the second set, yet frustrations were clear when Raducanu failed to grasp two break points in Sun's second serving game.
Home favourite Raducanu channelled those frustrations into her efforts, however, entertaining the crowd with a delicate drop shot before lobbing her opponent en route to levelling at 1-1.
That second-set marathon lasted a mammoth one hour and 13 minutes, and there was cause for concern when Raducanu slipped after stretching to her right, jarring her left knee in the opening game of the decider.
The 21-year-old required a three-minute medical time-out as Centre Court fell into a hesitant silence, but the crowd erupted as the Brit was able to continue, smashing an ace on the first point of her return.
Celebrations were short-lived, however, as Sun broke Raducanu's opening service game and never looked back. She saw one match point come and go, but made no mistake when the second one came around.
The winner plays Donna Vekic, who beat Paula Badosa.
World number 123 Sun is the only qualifier still in the women's singles, and impressed on her Centre Court bow.
Data Debrief: Sun's dream Wimbledon run continues
Sun became the seventh qualifier to make the women’s singles quarter-finals at Wimbledon in the Open Era after Carina Karlsson (1984), Molly Van Nostrand (1985), Alexandra Stevenson (1999), Jelena Dokic (1999), Roberta Beltrame (2006) and Kaia Kanepi (2010).
Sun is also the second-lowest ranked (#123) player in the last 15 editions of the tournament to make the women’s singles quarter-finals at the Championships - ranked higher only than Serena Williams in 2018 (#181).
The New Zealander impressed on her Centre Court debut, scoring 50 winners along with converting five break points.
Wimbledon: Sinner brushes Shelton aside to ease into last eight
Jannik Sinner breezed into the Wimbledon quarter-finals after easing past Ben Shelton in straight sets on Sunday.
The world number one produced arguably his best performance at the grass-court major this year, cruising to a 6-2 6-4 7-6 (11-9) victory on a jam-packed No.1 Court.
Sinner did not have to wait long for his first break against America's Shelton, winning on his opponent's serve to go 3-2 up and then repeating the trick to snatch a 5-2 lead before sealing the first set.
The 22-year-old needed just 29 minutes for that opening-set triumph against the 14th seed, who again struggled to hold his serve in the next set as Sinner reeled off seven games without response.
Shelton eventually ended that imperious Sinner streak by triumphing on his own serve, though the Italian remained perfect with the ball in hand to move within one set of victory.
Sinner lost the first three games of the third set, however, after an early Shelton break, only for the top seed to battle back in his usual fighting fashion.
Having squandered a set-point opportunity, Shelton collapsed to tee up a chaotic tie-break, where both players relinquished multiple chances during an eye-catching duel.
Shelton failed to take any of his three set-point chances, with Sinner also not grasping a match-point opening, though the latter eventually triumphed at the second time of asking.
Sinner's reward will be a last-eight meeting with either Grigor Dimitrov or world number five Daniil Medvedev.
Data Debrief: Super Sinner flying
Since 2000, Sinner is only the fourth player to win 42 or more of their opening 45 ATP matches of a season, along with Roger Federer (2005-06), Novak Djokovic (2011, 2015-16) and Rafael Nadal (2013, 2018).
He is also the fifth male aged under 23 in the past four decades to reach three consecutive quarter-finals at Wimbledon, along with Boris Becker (1988-90), Pete Sampras (1992-94), Andy Roddick (2003-05) and Nadal (2006-08).
The world number one is yet to lose any of his three round-of-16 clashes in SW19, reaching the last eight in 2022, the semi-finals a year later and recording this triumph on Sunday.
Wimbledon: Alcaraz hails 'unbelievable' point after Humbert triumph
Carlos Alcaraz continued his defence of the Wimbledon crown with a hard-fought win over Ugo Humbert in the last 16, picking out his "unbelievable" set point in the second set as the highlight.
Alcaraz withstood a late push from Humbert to win 6-3 6-4 1-6 7-5 and book his place in the last eight, where he will play Tommy Paul or Roberto Bautista Agut.
He was made to work for his two-set advantage on Centre Court, saving four break points in the fifth game of the second then breaking Humbert's resistance.
He showed remarkable athleticism on set point, recovering from a fall to sprint back to mid-court and tee up Humbert for a missed volley.
Alcaraz later found a second wind in the fourth set, smashing 17 winners to Humbert's 10 to get over the line.
Asked how he would describe his efforts on that earlier set point, Alcaraz said: "Unbelievable, I guess! I just try to fight for every ball.
"It doesn't matter which part of the court I am at, I just try to run to whichever part of the court I am on, giving myself the chance to stay alive in the point.
"Set point was a really important point for me so I had to show the opponent that whatever shot he hits, I will be there.
"That's me, I will be there, fighting until the last ball and sometimes it is a good point like this one and sometimes I lose it, but the main thing is just to fight."
Data Debrief: Alcaraz continues grand slam love story
Alcaraz's triumph saw him reach a ninth men's singles quarter-final from 14 grand slam draws entered - the most of any player who began their career in the Open Era through their first 14 participations.
The Spaniard also maintained his winning streak at grand slams, having now won 11 matches in a row following his French Open triumph last month.
But there will be room for improvement for Alcaraz, who uncharacteristically served six double faults throughout the contest, compared to Hubert's one.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
